Crazy and Radical

I'm behind on so many fronts that I don't even want to think about it.  This blog is one of them.  But I'm entering a new season...both in this year and in my life.  The last 6 months or so have just been yucky.  Not "I'm homeless with no family and everyone I know is deathly ill that I should even have anything to complain about" yucky but more like "Satan is really attacking me where I live and I can't quite seem to drag myself out from under the bus I'm driving to get myself back to where God wants me" kind of yucky.  But just like His grace is new every morning, the sights and sounds of spring always seem to awaken a new day in me.

Another thing that is waking my lazy behind up is some great reading I've been doing.  I know these two books were so last year's best sellers but those who know me know that I am definitely not that one who will be reading the latest release, if I'm reading anything at all so this is really about par for me.

I just finished reading, "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan.  Great reminder of what the kind of Christ we are trying to be like really looks like.  Such a motivator.  One of my favorite passages:

I wrote this book because much of our talk doesn't match our lives.  We say things like, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me," and "Trust in the Lord with all your hear."  The we live and plan like we don't believe God even exists.  We try to set our lives up so everything will be fine even if God doesn't come through.  But true faith means holding nothing back.  It meas putting every hope in God's fidelity to His promises.

I just started David Platt's, "Radical:  Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream."  So far it has been great, but I'm only on page 34.

So long self.

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. It just seems like I haven't come across anything blog-worthy in the last few weeks. I wanted to share something I've been thinking about for a while.

Do you ever have those times when you handle a situation and then later in the day or later that night you think, "Man, if I'm really a Christian. If I really love God and His people, why didn't I handle that with more grace and love?" I can't seem to figure out why. I know what the book says and I know what God's heart is for His people, but sometimes I don't find myself having His heart when I have to deal with tough situations.

I've always liked this song by MercyMe. It is called So Long Self. It explains the abandon we need to fully realize John 3:30 that says:

"He must become greater; I must become less."

I've heard some translations that say, "He must increase, I must decrease." So to achieve the kind of Christ-likeness that helps us deal with situations like he would, I think we have to say, "so long self" and abandon our fleshly nature when we aren't in touch situations in hopes that it will bleed over during those tense times. Only when we fall out of love with ourselves can we love like the Father.

Enjoy the video.